


Surprise in Store

by lilyvandersteen



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M, Meet-not-so-cute; trigger warning: vomit; Blaine is super sweet and helpful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24916681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilyvandersteen/pseuds/lilyvandersteen
Summary: This is a short meet-not-so-cute dedicated to @teddyshoney for the Glee Potluck Big Bang Fic Exchange, based on the Tumblr prompt “You wore a red shirt to Target and got mistaken for an employee”.
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel
Comments: 28
Kudos: 78
Collections: Glee Potluck Big Bang 2020





	Surprise in Store

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TeddysHoney](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeddysHoney/gifts).



> A big thank you, as always, to my wonderful beta @hkvoyage ♥

**Surprise in Store by lilyvandersteen**

“Hey, you!”

Blaine, who was comparing two varieties of coin cell batteries, winced at the shrill yelling. He hastened to put the smaller pack back on the shelf and get away from the loud lady.

A hand grabbed his arm and yanked him back. “Hey! Don’t you run away! My daughter just vomited over there. Clean it up before someone walks through it!”

Blaine gaped at the woman, struck speechless.

“Well, don’t just stand there, you moron! Get to it! Seriously, the idiots they have working here, it’s unbelievable!”

Oh. Right. Maybe it hadn’t been Blaine’s brightest idea to put on a red polo shirt to go to the Target store. Easy enough to mistake him for an employee.

He looked around for an actual Target team member, and saw one approaching with a cleaning cart. As the man got closer to the pool of vomit, though, he went green around the gills and gagged.

Blaine grimaced in sympathy, and hastened to go help him.

“And now you need TWO people to do one man’s job? Ugh, I’ll report you to your manager if you don’t pick up some speed. I need that car battery from the top shelf, one of you get that for me STAT!!”

Blaine whispered to the Target employee, “Go get her what she wants, I can handle things here.”

The guy stared at him, perplexed, but a loud sigh and someone’s shoe tapping a don’t-keep-me-waiting rhythm made him shrug and hurry to the bitchy customer to fetch her the item she needed.

She snatched it from his hands with only “About time!” as thanks and stalked away, her daughter trailing her at a much slower pace.

Blaine, in the meantime, had mopped up the mess using the employee’s equipment, and was now disinfecting the floor with a microfibre cloth he’d drenched in cleaning vinegar.

“Thank you!” the Target employee said. “I don’t know why you’d help me out when you’re clearly NOT a colleague of mine, but I’m so grateful you dealt with that. Ugh, I was about to hurl too.”

Blaine grinned. “I could tell. And you’re welcome.”

He got up from the floor and put the cloth back on the cart. “Is there anywhere I could wash my hands with soap, though? Don’t want to get whatever bug…”

His brain scrambled and his voice trailed off as he really looked at the guy from up close for the first time.

_ Oh wow. Hello gorgeous! _

The Target employee, whose name was Kurt according to the badge he wore, was absolutely stunning. Long and lithe, with mesmerising eyes and a face made for magazine covers. He was also… moving away from Blaine? And talking…

_ Pay attention, Blaine! _

“It’s this way,” Kurt said. “Customers aren’t allowed there, but I doubt anyone will notice. You look like one of us.”

Blaine chuckled. “Yep. Which is why I got an earful from that rude customer.”

Kurt sighed. “I’m SO sorry about that!”

“Oh, you’re not the one who should be sorry,” Blaine told him.

“She’s such a Karen,” Kurt said. “Thinks the whole world belongs to her and everyone is there just to do her bidding. Ugh, I hate people like that. And why would she bring her daughter here when the girl is sick? Who knows what she’s touched all over the store. Now we’re all going to have a stomach bug tomorrow, and I can’t afford to fall ill.”

He led Blaine into the back room and threw away the soiled water and cloths, after which he washed his own hands, too.

“I’m going to do that about a million more times today,” Kurt muttered. “My dad’s got cancer. He really doesn’t need a stomach bug on top of it.”

“How much longer ‘till your shift is over?” Blaine asked.

“Half an hour.”

“I’ll stick with you and do whatever needs doing, so that you won’t have to touch a thing,” Blaine promised. “And, um, the coffee shop where I’m working is looking for another barista, so maybe you could apply there instead? We get rude customers too, of course, but you’re always behind the counter. Plus, the owner is really friendly and plies us with baked goods throughout our shifts.”

Kurt looked as though he seriously considered it. “That sounds nice. Though fattening. And you’re nice too, to help me out like this. Why on earth would you? You don’t actually work here, you’re a customer. You could have just told her that.”

Blaine shrugged. “I like helping people. It’s the best way to make friends. Well, not rude people like that woman, obviously.”

Kurt threw his head back and laughed. “Yep. Can’t imagine her being friends with anyone. Frenemies only.”

Just then, another guy in a red polo shirt came in, and Blaine hid himself behind the door so as not to get Kurt into trouble. “Kurt, why aren’t you out there in the store? You’re still on the clock!”

“Just cleaned up vomit in the battery aisle,” Kurt said, pointing at the cleaning cart.

The manager wrinkled his nose. “Ugh. Thanks for dealing with that.”

“I hope I don’t get whatever that girl had,” Kurt grimaced.

The manager’s eyes widened. “Oh. Yes. You know, Kurt, maybe you’d better clock out now and go home. And if you’re under the weather tomorrow, just stay at home, please. That sort of bug is very contagious, and I really don’t need half of my staff falling out sick.”

A disbelieving smile stole over Kurt’s face. “Really? Oh, thanks!”

The manager had his back to Kurt by now, and was checking something on the computer, and paid no more attention to him.

Kurt grabbed his coat and Blaine’s hand, and tugged him along with a cheerful, “See you on Monday, then!” to his manager.

Before Blaine knew it, they were both sitting in a booth in the coffee shop where he worked, and Kurt was filling in a job application Blaine’s boss had handed him. She’d also winked at them both, and whispered to Blaine far too loudly, “That the boyfriend, then? I approve. Very handsome!”

Blaine had wanted to sink through the floor, but Kurt had just giggled and started filling in the form.

_ Huh. So does that mean he doesn’t mind being seen as my boyfriend, then? Do I stand a chance? _

He got his answer when they left the coffee shop again.

“So… Seeing as I don’t have work tomorrow… Want to go to the cinema tonight?” Kurt asked.

Blaine grinned from ear to ear. “Like a date?”

Kurt winked at him. “Like a date. I even know a nice place where we could have pizza first.”

“That sounds amazing. Lead the way!”

Over a pizza dinner, he found out that Kurt was as interesting as he was gorgeous. The conversation flowed naturally, as though they’d known each other for ages, and soon, Blaine was laughing until his stomach hurt from all the Target anecdotes Kurt told him, and sharing a few coffee shop stories of his own, and then nodding and chiming in when Kurt talked about being bullied.

They ended up talking for so long that they missed the showing at the cinema, but neither of them minded. They grabbed a scoop of ice-cream at Kurt’s favourite ice cream parlour and walked to the park, still talking about anything and everything.

“You’ve got a bit of…” Kurt pointed at Blaine’s face.

Blaine dabbed his mouth with a paper napkin. “Is it gone?”

Kurt shook his head. “It’s more to the left.”

Blaine tried again, but from Kurt’s expression, missed the spot by a mile. He got an idea, and grinned cheekily. “Well… You could always… Kiss it away?”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “You are so cheesy.”

Still, that was not a no, and Blaine grinned wider.

Kurt wiped the ice cream off Blaine’s cheek with his own napkin, and then gave him a feather-light kiss in the same spot. “There.”

“Thank you.”

That evening, when he got home after a wonderful first date and floated into the living room still high on cloud nine, his mother asked, “So did you pop into the Target for those batteries?”

Blaine face-palmed. With all that had happened at the store, he’d totally forgotten to buy the batteries he’d come for.

“Tomorrow, Mom. I promise.”

“Set a reminder on your phone, Mr. Scatterbrain.”

“I will,” Blaine promised.

As he did so, he added a note.  _ Don’t wear a red shirt. _


End file.
